Page 62

A.J.’s eyes fluttered open to the sun-starved darkness of the Richards’ basement. The sounds of softly breathing bodies rose around him. The details of how it happened were foggy, but someone had replaced his grey matter with rocks since he’d laid his head down last night.

Bren stirred beside him, legs tangled in the sheets on the air mattress as he snored at the ceiling with a wide-open mouth. On the other side of a lumpy mass that was concealing Yu, Dustin was asleep on a ratty old couch, arm dangling down so the back of his hand rested across Suveer’s forehead.

He’d been wondering if he should have followed Nat when she’d waved goodbye during Bren’s repeat performance of Like a Virgin. Since Brooke had left half an hour before, the buffer that the presence of girls had on guys like Dustin was bound to evaporate.

Yep. Shot glasses replaced the beers they’d been nursing, the volume on Guitar Hero got cranked to the max, and the night spiraled into something that put Orlaith’s Halloween party to shame.

The blob that could be loosely identified as Yu rolled over, and a groan carried with it the consequences of the last two Jägerbombs Bren had talked him into.

“How long have you been up?”

It was impossible to tell if he was keeping things quiet out of concern for the others’ sleep, or out of post-hangover survival. Either way, A.J. had to lean closer to hear him properly.

“Almost an hour,” A.J. said. Bren’s leg twitched in his sleep.

“Any chance of you getting us food?”

“Only if you go get my keys,” A.J. said. Using his brain made him wince.

Although he hadn’t seen them put there, A.J. knew they were in a locked drawer in Dustin’s parent’s bedroom. You could drink at the Richards’, but your keys went with his parents until it was morning or you passed a breathalyzer test. Or preferably both.

Yu groaned and flipped back over. A.J. could only guess the promise of McDonald's wasn’t enough to test a migraine against early afternoon sunlight.

“Couldn’t you have dated someone less . . .” Yu groaned again as he squinted around the room. “Magnetic?”

The words parted the fog of A.J.’s hangover enough that the room brightened. He’d never thought he’d be with someone magnetic, but damn if it wasn’t a good shorthand for Bren.

“Lucky for me he’s like that all the time or I wouldn’t have survived Glenbridge.”

Every time he thought about what his life might be like if Bren hadn’t said hello that first day, he wanted to cringe.

“Want me to grab your camera? Commemorate the night?”

Yu groaned and buried his face in the pillow. “Camera go flash. Flash bad.”

A.J. attempted to get out of bed, but Bren rolled over and pulled him close.

“Mornin’, Robolad.”

The fact that the cloud of Jägerbomb morning-breath didn’t make A.J. pull away wasn’t lost on him, but he’d known he was a goner long before he’d ever made it back to Canada.

Bren yawned before burrowing his forehead against A.J.’s cheek.

OK, maybe the breath was a little much.

“Good afternoon, Bren-donna,” he said, tilting Bren’s head to the right. “How much of last night do you remember?”

Bren’s eyes narrowed as his brain waded through what was no doubt one hell of a headache. “Did we do it like virgins?” He tried to laugh but couldn’t. “Did I have fun at least?”

“We did.” A.J. kissed his boyfriend on the forehead as he peered back with half-lidded eyes. “Thanks for that.”

28

“Hey, Bren?”

Bren grumbled so that Arlo would know he’d heard him but kept his head pointed at his homework so all the numbers didn’t fall out of his brain.

“Did you mean to switch to odds?”